October 29, 2013

Flea Market Polaroid Mini Album w/Jeanette Lee + Giveaway!!

Hello Everyone! Today, I would like to share with you how I constructed these mini albums where you can easily insert your polaroids into attached pockets. For a period of time, I used to pin my photos to a cork board. While on display, the photos often endured the hardship of sun exposure which promoted color fading. Away from the board, my polaroid collection was growing by leaps and bounds. Storing them became a serious issue. Eventually, I chose to chuck them into a box and left it at that.

To solve my polaroid epidemic, I came up with this easy-to-make mini album/pocket book solution. For a closer look, follow along below...

To make the album pockets, grab multiple sheets of vellum and cut them down to 4" x 8". You'll need a total of eleven sheets.

For each sheet, score at the 4" mark - the length of the vellum should stretch across the score board as shown.

Rotate the vellum and score at 1" on both sides.

Once done, fold the sheet in half. Cut a small slit on both sides of the sheet where it meets the 1" score line. Fold the sides inward and glue to assemble the pocket. Each pocket should be spacious enough to fit a polaroid.

**The pockets may be replicated using regular patterned paper. I chose vellum because of it's semi-transparent quality and to enable the visibility of my polaroid images. I also left them plain because most my polaroids are colorful in nature.

For the spine, cut a 3" x 12" sheet of patterned paper. Score at every 1" mark. Insert a vellum pocket between each fold and use glue to secure them in place. This next step is optional; use a circular punch to create a simple opening for each pocket.

As for the cover of the album, trim "two" 3.5" x 4.25" sections from patterned paper and cardboard. Attach and connect the cardboard sections to the spine's outer edges.

Next, cut a 3.5" x 4.25" sheet from Flea Market's gold doilies vellum and wrap it around the spine. I chose to use vellum in this way because it's sturdy and flexible. Also, it's tear resistant and voids damage associated with the opening and closing of the album itself. Lastly, it serves to hide the spine - making for a more pleasing presentation of the album as a whole.

Finally, attach a ribbon to hold the album closed and cover the thin cardboard sheets with patterned papers with the ribbon just beneath it.

Decorate the cover with embellishments. I chose chipboard elements as the added weight helped to flatten the album in place. Embellishments were also kept to a minimum due to the cover's small surface area. I focused first on just one large element such as the globe and the camera. From there, I built up more layers.

No more boxed polaroids! Instead, two mini albums containing simple, elegant vellum crafted folders and precious polaroids safe from the wear and tear of everyday life.

Thank you for spending time with Crate Paper today. I hope you liked the tutorial! If you happen to have created one like it — share it! We'd love to see it!

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It's been far too long since we've had a Flea Market giveaway, so today we're honoring Jeanette's stunning mini album by bundling a box of Flea Market happiness and giving it away to one very lucky winner! To participate in the giveaway, tell us your must-have item from the Flea Market collection in a comment below. We'll announce the winner this Friday, November 1st! Good Luck and have fun!

Comments

Wow, what a beautiful mini album!! I absolutely love this idea and I think I'll have to try it somewhen soon!
It's really hard to choose only one favourite item of the Flea Market collection because it is so pretty, but if I had to decide on one..I'd say the decorative pins! They are dreamy and add some dimension to every project!

Love the mini album! Thanks for the step by step!
Would love to win Flea Market stuff. So many possibilities! Full LOs, mini albums, Project Life, cards! Ideas are endess! My favourite item has to be the 12x12 die cut sheet! Like I said, I love versatility and possibilities!

This is truly a beautiful project. Thanks so much for the step by step instructions! I missed getting some of the resin flowers that go with the Flea Market collection. I also love the gold doily paper.